The Not-so-Small Koenigsegg Group AB Puts Saab Back in Swedish Hands

Swede deal.

We can understand if you suffered whiplash after double-taking at news of the sale of Saab to Koenigsegg, an eccentric, elusive, and tiny Swedish company. It was sort of like hearing that your local Elks Club had sold enough raffle tickets to purchase the Cincinnati Reds.

On closer inspection, it makes a little more sense. The closest connection we can come up with is that Saab is “Born from Jets!” as the ads used to boast, and Koenigsegg is headquartered at a decommissioned Swedish fighter-jet base. Saab’s new owner is actually not Koenigsegg Auto AB, the builder of million-dollar-plus supercars—but rather Koenigsegg Group AB, a consortium of partners that includes Koenigsegg Auto; Alpraaz, a Swedish import-export company; Augie Fabela, a Russian telecom billionaire; Mark Bishop, a San Diego–based investment banker; and Baard Eker, a Norwegian mogul whose Eker Group also owns 49 percent of Koenigsegg Auto.

Both Koenigsegg entities are led by the same man, Christian von Koenigsegg, the 37-year-old descendent of an aristocratic Swedish family who is best described as an entrepreneur-slash-inventor who personally holds many of the patents on his cars. Von Koenigsegg’s pop legend—as stated in the company’s press materials and certain to be quoted in any story about the man (as evidenced here)—is that he has dreamed of making sports cars since he was five and watched an animated Norwegian film about a bicycle repairman who builds a race car.

At 22, von Koenigsegg set about realizing that dream, sketching the first design for a car and sinking what he has said was about $2.5 million of his and his father’s money into the project. Two years later, he had a working prototype, and by 2002, the Koenigsegg CC8S—powered by a 4.6-liter, supercharged Ford V-8 with 655 horsepower—was on sale in Europe with the von Koenigsegg family coat of arms at the heart of the brand’s badge. We tested the first Koenigsegg in November 2001 and found that the carbon-fiber two-seater clipped through the quarter-mile in 12.0 seconds at 120 mph, on its way to a claimed top speed well over 200 mph.

Christian von Koenigsegg has, either by choice or lack of interest, given few interviews. It’s not because he doesn’t speak our language; his English is excellent, and he is a distinctive presence, looking a little like the villain in a James Bond film.

He declined an interview for this story and has pretty much declined them all except for a few given to the Swedish media, during which he said almost nothing of substance, which is not surprising as the Saab deal will likely not be finalized until the end of summer. “Our ambition is to build a Swedish car company with all that implies,” he told SVT, a Swedish public broadcaster.

Eric Geers, Saab’s director of corporate communications, says that many Swedes, including nearly all employees he’d heard from, were excited about the return of Saab to Swedish ownership. He also says that the local media was initially as shocked as Saab was that tiny Koenigsegg, which built just 18 cars last year, could acquire and oversee a company that has 4500 employees and sold more than 90,000 vehicles in 2008.

Geers says that the prerequisites of the sale, which involves a $600 million loan from the European Investment Bank that is backed by the Swedish government, were that “these guys had financial power, that they’re in it for the long term”—meaning they weren’t going to buy, slash, and sell—“and that they could add value.” They also had to buy into GM’s business plan, which “centered around bringing back production and also development in Sweden.”

In the future, all Saabs (the 9-3 and the redesigned 9-5 due next year) will be built in Sweden, with the exception of the new crossover 9-4X, which will be made in Mexico. What’s more, the new Saab and GM will retain many partnerships—with Saab engineers continuing to share R&D on things such as all-wheel drive, turbocharging, and braking, and GM supplying drivetrains, parts, and financing muscle. “The game has changed a little,” says Geers. “You don’t need to own each other to cooperate.” GM bought a 50-percent stake in Saab in 1989 and then purchased it outright in 2000.

Luke Vuksanaj is one of two Koenigsegg dealers in the U.S. If you’re looking for a 1018-hp, CCXR, he’s got the one and only at his Long Island–based Universal Autosports. It wears a price tag of $1.2 million.

Vuksanaj can’t speak for Saab, but he’s not concerned about von Koenigsegg’s devotion to the supercars. “I don’t worry about his focus at all. Not one bit.”

Geers has no idea what a Koenigsegg-run Saab will look like but is hopeful. “People are excited to show what Saab is really capable of.”

It sounds a lot like something von Koenigsegg told SVT in his lone TV interview. “This [Saab] is neither a luxury nor a people’s car, but it has its own niche—a bit of postmodern comfort, sporty but with environmental thinking,” he said. “We want to capture the Swedish aspect, too. GM had a bit more of an international approach, and Saab drowned a little bit in that context.”

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